Opinion
No. 42641.
October 8, 1951.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS, WILLIAM K. KOERNER, J.
No attorney for appellant.
J. E. Taylor, Atty. Gen., Paul N. Chitwood, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Lee Felder appealed from a judgment sentencing him to ten years in the penitentiary after a verdict convicting him of murder in the second degree.
No bill of exceptions has been filed. Review here is thus limited to the record proper. State v. Roberts, Mo.Sup., 232 S.W.2d 975, 976; State v. Green, Mo.Sup., 211 S.W.2d 1. Appellant, pro se, filed a brief. Nothing therein pertains to alleged errors demonstrable by the record proper. Without a bill of exceptions we are necessarily precluded from determining any of the matters urged in the brief.
The indictment on which appellant was tried charged him with murder in the second degree, charging that defendant-appellant feloniously, willfully, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought killed another. The indictment was in proper form and sufficient to charge murder in the second degree. No charge of deliberation was necessary. State v. Howard, 352 Mo. 410, 412, 177 S.W.2d 616, 617; § 559.020, Mo.R.S. 1949. The language of the indictment, except for the exclusion of the word "deliberately", has been approved as a proper indictment charging murder in the first degree. State v. Johnson, Mo.Sup., 26 S.W.2d 793. The present indictment by omitting the word "deliberately" properly charged murder in the second degree. State v. Mitchell, Mo.Sup., 252 S.W. 383, 384[1].
The verdict was responsive to the charge of the indictment and the punishment was within the applicable statutory limits. § 559.030, Mo.R.S. 1949.
Appellant was present in court, was granted allocation, and judgment was pronounced, all in compliance with the provisions of applicable statutes. §§ 546.550, 546.560, 546.570, Mo.R.S. 1949.
The judgment is affirmed.
VAN OSDOL and LOZIER, CC., concur.
The foregoing opinion by COIL, C., is adopted as the opinion of the court.
All concur.